Americans today struggle under an annual government regulatory burden of more than 1.75 TRILLION dollars. What difference does this make? For Steve Lathrop and his family, it cost them everything. It destroyed their dreams and now they live on the brink of bankruptcy. Although few of us have been mired in bureaucratic red tape for over twenty years, many of us have struggled because of the terrible economic climate caused by excessive regulations and government intrusion in our lives.

Please help share Steve’s story! Government oppression of citizens is wrong! Let’s speak up. Maybe it will help Steve's family, and help protect others from unreasonable regulations.

"Over the past few decades, America has locked up more and more people. Our prison population has tripled. Now we jail a higher percentage of people than even the most repressive countries: China locks up 121 out of every 100,000 people; Russia 511. In America? 730.“'Never in the civilized world have so many been locked up for so little,' The Economist says."Yet we keep adding more laws and longer jail terms."Lavrentiy Beria, head of Joseph Stalin’s secret police in the old Soviet Union, supposedly said, 'Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.' Stalin executed anyone he considered a threat, and it didn’t take much to be considered a threat. Beria could always find some law the targeted person had broken. That’s easy to do when there are tons of vague laws on the books. Stalin 'legally' executed nearly a million people that way."I’m not saying that America is like Stalin’s Russia, but consider the federal laws we have. The rules that bind us now total more than 160,000 pages. The Congressional Research Service said it was unable to count the number of crimes on the books. Yet last week the feds added or proposed another thousand pages. States and cities have thousands more. Have you read them all? Have our “representatives” read them all? You know the answer."

"The American Dream turned into a nightmare when the housing bubble burst.

"People have been trying to figure out who to blame- Greedy bankers? Corrupt politicians? Ignorant homeowners?

"In American Nightmare: How Government Undermines the Dream of Homeownership, Randal O'Toole explores the forces at play in the housing market and shows how we can rebuild the American dream of homeownership by eliminating federal, state, and local policies that distort the free market for housing." Cato Institute

You’ve been invited to participate on a new game show called Do You Know the Law? Two wrong answers eliminate you.

“Why not?” you say to yourself. “I know as much law as the next person. What’s the worst that could happen: embarrassment?”

The first panelist correctly answers the question, “Can you steal your neighbor’s car?” The second aces the query, “Can you lie on a loan application?” You, however, get the question, “Do you import spiny lobster from Honduras in a plastic bag or a cardboard box?”

You are flummoxed, though not alone. (It turns out that a lawyer and a judge on earlier shows got it wrong, too.) After guessing “plastic” and not hearing applause, you figure that at least all the tough questions are behind you. But on your next turn, you hear, “What is the minimum-size lobster that you can import from Honduras, 5 inches or 5.5?” Guessing incorrectly again, you are whisked away bemoaning the unfairness of being asked questions that no reasonable person could answer correctly.

But the feds expect everyone to get those questions right. Just ask Abner Schoenwetter. He was charged under a law called the Lacey Act with precisely those “heinous” crimes: importing lobsters that, supposedly in violation of Honduran law, were too small to be taken and should have been packed in boxes, not clear plastic bags. Turns out, the law was void. But the U.S. Justice Department prosecuted him anyway, and the federal courts upheld his conviction.

Unfortunately for Abner, he wasn’t just asked to leave the courtroom empty-handed. He spent five-plus years in federal prison for getting those two questions wrong. True story. And if you find it startling, disturbing, and outrageous, you’re not alone.

Welcome to the world of overcriminalization — the overuse and misuse of the criminal law...

There are more than 4,500 federal criminal statutes, and hundreds of thousands of implementing regulations. No one could know everything in the federal criminal code...But even if someone managed that feat, he still would not be home safe. The Lacey Act demands that you also know every law — civil and administrative as well as criminal — of every foreign land....

But there is hope. Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) and Representative Paul C. Broun (R., Ga.) have introduced companion bills in the Senate and House to prevent such miscarriages of justice as befell Abner Schoenwetter. Read More: National Review

Should Environment Protection Agency Officials be able to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies, as the Romans crucified random subjects to force submission?

In a 2010 video, Obama-appointed EPA official, Al Armendariz, bragged that the EPA's “general philosophy” is to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies.

In the video, Administrator Armendariz says:

“I was in a meeting once and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said:

“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them."

“Then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”

Armendariz said that approach creates an effective "deterrent factor," and the EPA is following the Roman model.

But Senator James Inhofe is expressing concern about the EPA modus operandi:

“Not long after Administrator Armendariz made these comments in 2010, EPA targeted US natural gas producers in Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.

“In all three of these cases, EPA initially made headline-grabbing statements either insinuating or proclaiming outright that the use of hydraulic fracturing by American energy producers was the cause of water contamination, but in each case their comments were premature at best – and despite their most valiant efforts, they have been unable to find any sound scientific evidence to make this link.”

Senator Inhofe believes the video gives Americans a "glimpse of the Obama administration's true agenda," to "incite fear" and "intimidate" with threats and exorbitant penalties and fees.

If they say this on camera, imagine what they say in private.

Arrogant EPA officials are enjoying their unfettered and unconstitutional power to oppress citizens.

Each business that is "crucified" impacts men, women, and children who need the income to live.

Some have lost their lifelong savings trying to pay excessive fees and fines.

Those without sufficient savings have been burdened with massive debt because of arbitrary and unreasonable policies.

And others have even been sent to prison for unknowingly violating obscure regulations.

For Patriotic Moms:

I see articles like this with some frequency, but choose not to pass them on. However, examples like this can be opportunities for us to teach our children the rights and protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is the foundation of our liberty, peace, and prosperity.

As Patriotic Moms, we should teach our children.

Explain that our Founding Fathers' painful experiences with government oppression caused them to set up a system to protect citizens from tyranny.

Show our kids specific provisions in the Constitution which, if followed, protect citizens from this abuse.

Explain why it's essential for us to seek elected leaders who will implement policies that are in harmony with the Constitution. And after leaders are elected, we must continue to be vigilant and hold them accountable.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington

Please LIKE this post if you think it's time to end EPA power to oppress hard-working Americans.

SOPA and Protect IP are a Dangerous Form of Censorship

We need to send a clear message to the world that we support the principle of a free, unified, and open internet. If we cease to support the right of free speech, "then the only difference between the U.S. and China is what's on the black list."

"These bills would go so far to protect copyright that they would strangle the Internet with regulation. The Web would be transformed from a permissive technology where innovation is welcome to one where websites are shut down first, questions asked later.

"The legislation has bipartisan support and could come up for a vote before the end of the year. If it passes, the government will take down an entire website when a copyright holder claims an infringement online. A violation could be a single link on a single page, such as user-generated content that includes a movie clip or song lyric.

"It would also be unlawful for a site to 'avoid confirming a high probability' of infringement. This is legalese to make websites responsible for anything posted on them or potentially posted on them by third parties. Payment providers, ad networks and search engines would get infringement notices barring them from working with these sites, which would put the sites out of business before any violation is proven.

"Silicon Valley has belatedly realized it must fight the new proposals. Fred Wilson, a New York venture capitalist, recently hit the corridors in Washington and wrote on his blog: 'Venture capitalists will think more than twice about putting $3 million of early-stage capital into startups if they know that the vast majority of the funds will go to pay lawyers to defend the companies instead of to hire engineers to create and build product.'

"'Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were three-person startups not so long ago,' Mr. Wilson wrote. Each 'could have been litigated out of business before they had a chance to grow,' because all have inadvertently permitted violations of copyright by users.

"The proposed changes to the law would effectively repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This created a safe harbor in 1998 for online providers so long as they agreed to cut off users who violate copyright. Rights holders use a 'notice and take down' process. Sites such as Facebook and YouTube comply with more than 10,000 such takedown notices a year, but they are not directly liable for infringements any more than phone companies are liable when people speak on the phone to plan a crime. This has allowed the Web to grow while providing copyright protection."

Please watch the video and click LIKE to help spread the word.

We must act quickly to prevent this destructive legislation from being passed!

"Millions of Families Will Be Stuck in a No Man's Land Without Affordable Coverage"

Obamacare is full of "unintended consequences." Doctors, tired of overbearing government regulations, are retiring early from their practices. Some businesses, unable to plan what their actual expenses will be, have stopped hiring. Other businesses have dropped the health insurance plans they previously offered, preferring to pay heavy fines rather than comply with excessive and expensive mandates.

The system works so poorly that thousands of expemptions have been given. For example, many businesses (especially in Nancy Pelosi's district), and even some states (like Harry Reid's Nevada), don't have to comply with the onerous requirements.

More and more people are asking, "If Obamacare is so great, why are so many waivers being given to unions and other Obama cronies? Why is the government creating a favored class that doesn't have to obey the laws the rest of us have to obey?"